I'm happy to read that the Obama campaign/DNC has launched a $20 million dollar outreach to the Latino/a community. Kos points out that the entire amount spent by the Democrats, the Republicans and the third-party groups was $8.7 million in 2004.

Important aspects of the article:

Sanchez said efforts will be particularly focused in the key swing states of Nevada, Florida, New Mexico and Colorado, where Latino voters could make up the margin of victory.

and

“The giant has woken up and we are being prodded by the Obama campaign,” said Rep. Hilda Solis, an early supporter of Obama’s primary opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton, who now says she is firmly in the Obama camp. Solis said she spoke with Obama shortly after he secured the nomination and pledged her support to him. Solis said she is planning on hitting the campaign trail in the Southwest on Obama’s behalf. (italics mine)

Rep. Hilda Solis is a Democratic congresswoman from SoCal. The fact that the Obama campaign is already planning on hitting her up for the campaign trail says something about how much they are planning ahead. I am so impressed by the competence and organization of the Obama team.

The McCainiacs whip themselves into a moralistic frenzy against anybody who stands between them and the presidency. And should that person subsequently become potentially useful in McCain's quest for the presidency (first Bush, now Romney), they can convince themselves that he's not so bad after all.

The psychological process that's operating here can be used to justify pretty much anything. In part it's a function of the hero worship cult that envelops McCain, which quickly leads its adherents to the conclusion that the very fact of running against the hero is proof of one's perfidy. This, I'm sure, is what allowed McCain to so easily smear Romney in the primary and to smear Obama now.

The span of time between candidate George H. W. Bush's "read my lips, no new taxes" pledge, and his subsequent decision as president to break his pledge by supporting new taxes, was approximately two years. John McCain has now managed to violate that same pledge in just 20 days.

If you read the article, the pledge more specifically referred to Barack Obama's plan to raise the amount of your income that gets taxed for Social Security purposes. John McCain is normally against that, except when he is open to it. Seriously, I don't think John McCain even knows his own platform, as you can see in this video.

He [John McCain] described himself as an underdog, said he loves that status and said he's doing better at this point than he thought he would be doing. ''I will compete and I will win in the state of California.''

More details are emerging about the Obama's August vacation to Hawai'i. Lynn Sweet points out that it is going to be part of his bio-tour. Until she reminded me, I had completely forgotten about the planned bio-tour.

But parsing Obama's own statements about his criteria for number two, the two DC outsiders - Kaine and Sebelius - make tons more sense than the beltway insiders being mentioned. (Still, that could be all show to wow the crowd later on with Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer or some other unexpected pick that comes sprinting onto the racetrack at the starting gun to thrill the crowd.)

I'm a huge fan of this choice. I think it would be daring, original and great. To find more out about Gov. Schweitzer check out his wiki, but in summary, the Governor speaks Arabic, has a 70% approval rating, and is a rancher! He's also loved by Nate at fivethrighteight.

Via TAPPED!, the Chicago Tribune reports that the Winn Parish District Attorney Chris Nevils is going to seek and indictment against the officer, Scott Nugent, who tasered Baron "Scooter" Pikes to death.

Brief history of the case:

Pikes, 21, died Jan. 17 within 39 minutes of being arrested on a drug possession warrant. Winnfield police claimed Pikes told them he suffered from asthma and was high on crack cocaine and PCP, but the local coroner found that Pikes had been healthy and had no drugs in his system. He ruled the death a homicide.

Yeah, the officer tasered him nine times in fourteen minutes, twice while Pikes was already unconscious. That sounds like murder to me. I'm sure Officer Nugent is going to use the "I had no idea what I was doing was dangerous" defense, and he'll probably get acquitted.

BTW, brief history of the corruption present in North Louisiana. I know we are all used to reports of the corruption here, so it's nice to see the whole state represented.

Nevils' predecessor as district attorney committed suicide after he came under suspicion for skimming $200,000 from his office accounts and extorting bribes from criminal suspects. The former police chief, who was Nugent's father, also killed himself, after losing a bitterly-contested election campaign marred by fraud allegations. The current police chief is a convicted drug offender who was pardoned by former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards, who is currently serving a federal prison sentence for corruption while in office.

Everyone needs to sign this: The LaVena Johnson Petition. If you need to ask why, just go here to read about how the Army covered up her rape/murder and is still calling her death a "suicide." This is disgusting.

I'm happy to see that Big Labor is blitzing the Rust Belt with pro-Obama mailers. I think the important thing is that these are not repeating the lies (Muslim, no flag pin, etc.) but are rather emphasizing the positive - Chrisitian, born in the US, etc. Several studies have shown that simply repeating the lie makes people believe it. So here, it's key that we not repeat the lie and only repeat the truth.

The title is "Obama Faces Doubt From Women," but here is the survey they use:

In recent polls, Obama has had a significant edge among women. A Quinnipiac University poll released July 15 found women supported Obama over Republican John McCain, 55 percent to 36 percent. Among men, McCain had 47 percent and Obama 44 percent.